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[Len]

Diana's official thread:
Use this thread to document updates to your Nano Reef Buildoff project.
Please note: this thread is reserved for the entitled registered member only. Open discussion about ideas or specific entries should be posted in the Nano Reefs forum or the General Reef Discussion forum.

[Diana]

I've decided to join this little build-off you guys have going here. Just a few weeks ago I set up my first marine tank. I have several other freshwater tanks including killifish and african cichlids. I had an empty 5.5 gallon so i decided to start a saltwater nano tank (i know, not the best choice to start with, but its all i can afford right now).

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I started setting up in late March, not sure of exact dates.

Here's the setup so far:

5.5 Gallon Marine Nano-reef:

Hardware:
-5.5 Gallon tank and glass top - had the tank, got glass top cut for $4
-Aquaclear 150 powerfilter w/ sponge - $0, had one laying around
-150 watt heater set to 78-80 F - $0, had one laying around
-Coralife 18 watt lighting (9 watts actinic, 9 watts 10,000k) - $34
-Approx. 7 lbs of assorted live rock - $35
-Finely crushed Agronite - $15
-Kent salt - salinity approx. 1.021 - $15

Inhabitants:
-3 Anenome or "sexy" shrimp - $25
-5 blue-legged hermit crabs
-1 Red scarlet crab
-3 Astrea snails
-2 Margarita snails - all of above 'clean up crew' for $17

-Red Grape macroalgae - $20
-Zoanthus "button polyps" - $10
-Green striped mushrooms - $29
-Xenia pulse coral - $11
-Anthelia 'waving hand coral' -$5

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Maintenence schedule:
-Lights on for 12.5 hours/day
-Feeding of live zooplankton, and occationally sinking pellets for the crabs.
-Every other day evaporation top-off with freshwater
-Once a week <10% water changes
-Algae glass when needed
-Clean glass top and outer tank when needed
-Add Kent Essential Elements every couple weeks when needed

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Setup:
First I rinsed the agronite and added it to the tank, approx 1" deep.
I added water and salt, and let sit for several days to make sure temperature was right and also to 'settle' the remaining dust from the sand.

Here's the earliest picture i had, right after i let the water clear. The first day i added the rock.


I then added about 5 lbs of fully cured live rock to the tank and the macroalgae. I let that sit for a week, after which I tested the water and everything appeared cycled. I then added my cleanup crew of crabs and snails, and everyone survived. I was showing no ammonia, no nitrites, and very little nitrates. After about a week I added the sexy shrimp, mushrooms, anthelia, and zoanthus. Everyone doing fine, about 5 days later I added the pulsing Xenia and 2.5 more pounds of live rock. That was yesterday.

Here are some pictures (before i added the Xenia and more live rock).

Full tank shot


Sexy-shrimp gathering


Sexy shrimp on a mushroom


Mushrooms (still not fully open)


Macroalgae


Anthelia


Close-up on sexy




-Diana

[Diana]

Here are some new pictures. I added the Xenia and more live rock yesterday, and did some re-arranging. This new rock structure seems better for coral placement.

The tank is sitting on my bedside table.

[Diana]

Reccently I've added:


1 green clown goby - $6.99
1 mermaid's fan macroalgae - $6.99
3 more sexy shrimp (now 6 in total) - $21
1 green ricordia - $19
1 small leather - not sure which type, will have to look up -$2.99
1 Discosoma mushroom, waiting for ID - $14.99
1 ring cowrie (hitchhiker) - free
Several brittle stars (hitchhikers) - free
little snipits of some red macroalgae (gift) - free

Total so far = $292.00

Everything is doing wonderfully. The green clown goby looks like it might have some ich spots, i will have to see how it progresses. He's eating fine and otherwise healthy.

The temperature is fluctuating too much for my liking... between 78 and 81 degrees during day and night. I might end up raising the lights off the tank.... i cant seem to find mini-aqualight legs anywhere.

I'm starting to see lots of neat things on my liverock. Lots of algae and little tube-worm-like things. Tons of little snails and a nice larger one i have no idea what type.

I also added some extra empty shells for my hermit crabs and to my liking they are all using new shells

I will post some pictures soon.

[Diana]

Gah my Green Clown goby has a nasty case of Ich. I want to freshwater bath him but i really dont want to tear down the tank to catch him. As my BF said, he's a $6 fish in a tank with over $100 worth of corals.... ah well. Hopefully he'll pull through. Hes still eating fine, which is a good sign.

I'm still having trouble keeping the temp just right. But fluctuaing between 78 and 80 shouldnt be a problem i dont think, and will be hard to avoid in such a small tank, especially in the summer. I'm going away for a month soon and am dreading leaving the tank, but its in good hands.


Here's some more recent pictures:

Full tank shot:


Unknown mushroom: I'm thinking its a D. carlgreni


Sexies on a Green Ricordia: (I can see two mouths, i think its splitting!)





-Diana

[Diana]

Just a quick update: my clown goby has beaten his ich! It was doing much better yesterday but still had the "afterspots", and today he's almost comptely ich-free. I cross my fingers it doesnt happen again.

Everything else is doing great.


-Diana

[Diana]

Well almost a week after my clown goby beat his ich he finally succombed to something. I have no idea what it was... i dont think it was ich.... He was perfectly healthy eating fine this afternoon and when i got home from work he was covered in this weird disease. I'm not familiar with saltwater diseases but i didnt want to leave him in the tank and run the risk of infecting everything. My snails, crabs, and corals are in great health, so im not sure what it was. I think he must have had this before i got him... serves me right for buying fish only days in from a shipment.

Anyways, sad news, but i will get another one. A yellow one this time if i can find them.

[Diana]

Well I've added a few things since I posted last.

About a week ago i added:

-Halimeda macroalgae - $4.99
-Black Crab - $2.99
-Orange + purple Hermit crab - $4


This week i added:

-Yellow goby - $10
-Electric Flame scallop - $14 (got a deal!)
-Feather duster tube worm -$10
-Bluey/purple mushrooms - $5
-Tiny tunicates - Free
-Some sort of Polyp frag - Free


I will post some pictures soon

-Diana

[Diana]

Thats it! My yellow goby died today. I am giving up on these guys (at least for now). I dont understand what the heck it is. Everything else in my tank is doing great. And i cant seem to keep a fish alive!

Bah

Humbug

I will post some pictures before i leave for a month... and then see what the tank looks like when i get back. hehe

-Diana

[Diana]

I havent updated this in so long! Sorry guys, I was away on my vacation . So lots of things have happend with the tank since I left. My flame scallop died within days of me returning... i dont think it was getting enough plankton. Then, I had some sort of mushroom disaster while i was gone. All my mushrooms (except my yellow/green ricordia) shrivelled up and died. A few little green striated mushrooms managed to survive and are growing in my boyfriends fish-only tank. One blue mushroom also survived and is growing nicely now. I have no idea what was the cause, since all the other (more sensitive) corals were fine. Im thinking it was either some sort of bug or chemical warfare, since my green ricordia was pretty much the only thing still flourishing. I think my black crab also died, cus its nowhere to be seen.

Other than that everything stayed pretty stable during the time i was gone. In the couple weeks since I got back I've added a few more corals and stuff:
- Powder blue Candy Cane coral - $10.00
- Neon green Candy Cane coral - $20.00
- Tube Anenome - $14.99
- Green macroalgae - free
- Polyps - $1.00


The anenome is by far now the star of the tank. It is so neat to watch it eat... it gets fed quite well since i love to watch it! hehe. I was told it might eat my sexy shrimp but so far they know to stay away from it. My anthelia is nicely taking over its half of the tank. I might need to move it back a bit soon since its right at the front. The green star polyps are always growing, and the ricordia i think has split (hard to see cus of the angle). My xenia moved itself up to a higher rock but still looks kinda ugly. Long skinny arms and its stopped pulsing... but is still alive. My leather looks like its 'shedding'... does anyone know anything about this?

Anyways, here are some more updated pictures of the tank and corals.

















I will post some more again soon
-Diana

[Diana]

Okay, Ive done some changes to my tank. I decided I wanted more live rock, so I went out and bought another pound and a half (actually, my wonderful boyfriend bought it for me ). So i put that in to try to make a solid wall of rock along the back instead of having the two piles. It looks kinda funny right now because of the color difference, my old stuff is dark and the new stuff is white... but hopefully by the end of summer it will all be the same. Now I have lots more places for corals. I also moved that Anthelia because it was taking over the front of my tank.

I broke down and started buying more mushrooms. I almost gave up on them after my mushroom meltdown over a month ago. But since then Ive added a few here and a few there and they seem to be doing fine. Im getting single shrooms for like $1-2 each so its not the end of the world if they dont make it.... but im crossing my fingers.

Salinity is steady at 1.021-1.022 with bi-weekly topoffs and weekly small water changes. Temp is set to 78F but sometimes it gets up to 80F on hot days. Lights are still on from 10 in the morning till 10:30 at night.

Most of my corals are doing great. I think ive lost that neon green Candy Cane coral, it was never doing good since I put it in. My other one is fine though. My pulsating xenia is a shrivelled little raggety mess. It moved itself up to the top of the tank and has started to look really bad, but its still alive. I dont know what to do, I dont want to kill it but its ugly. My Feather Duster didnt make it... I think the tube anenome must have stung it or the crabs ate its 'feathers' cus all that was left was the worm. Ive heard they starve easily in tanks though. The tube anenome is doing good and hasnt eaten any of my sexy shrimp yet.

Alright, so since my last post ive added:
- Baby Tomato Clown - $10
- Montipora frags - 2 for $2
- Hammer Coral - $14
- Zooanthids - 2 for $10
- Assorted Mushrooms - 9 for $16
- Lone zoo polyp - Free
- Lettuce Nudibranch - $10


The baby clownfish was, I admit, an impulse buy. I am planning on setting up a 15 or 20 gallon clown tank soon so he will be moved over once he gets big enough. Right now hes still tiny and cute... and he has an extra stripe

I will post some pictures of the tank once things get settled in a bit more after the move-around.


-Diana

[Diana]

Alright so here are some updated photos of the tank my boy toy Raf took for me . Ive added a few things, some corals I traded for african cichlids .


-"Toadstool"? Leather - Trade
-Frogspawn - Trade
-Blue Mushrooms - Trade
-Green Star Polyps - Trade



I only added the new corals yesterday, but so far everything is open and doing great. Im still contemplating adding more light... but if this stuff does well without it then I guess theres no need.

The tank:



tube anenome:



Frogspan coral:



Frogspan and Leather coral



blue mushroom coral



green/blue mushroom coral



red mushroom coral



mushroom coral and montipora



ricordea with sexy shrimp next to it



hammer coral



green star polyps



candycane coral



button pollyps





More pictures to come soon
-Diana

[Diana]

Ah I havent updated in ages.

Everything is going well with my tank, however I've removed a few of the corals due to the toadstool leather practically taking over the tank .

A new bulb was put in about three weeks ago and since then the halimeda macro has spurted... I guess it likes more light. All the other corals seem to be the same though. Its turned into a softie tank (as I always knew it would be) with that bloody toadstool as the main attraction.

I'll get more pictures and post soon, but we are in the process of setting up a 90 gallon FOWLR so progress on the nano has been delayed.

I love this little tank but I think once the contest is over I will transfer everything from this tank and a 25 gallon into a 30 gallon to give things a little more room.

Be back soon

-Diana

[Diana]

My final entry:

So here are the final shots from the 5.5 gallon nano I started so many months ago. The tank has really blossomed into a wonderful little reef. I've had to remove a few corals, some because they needed more light and some because I wanted to stock my new 20 gallon I setup.

The tank stats are all normal and everything is running fine . Little clowny will be going to a larger tank soon, I know he needs it. The trick is catching the little bugger! The ease of maintaining this little tank has really suprised me... di-weekly top offs and water changes every other week are about all the maintenance I do on this tank. Feeding brine shrimp, NLS, and phytoplankton seem to satisfy the tank just fine.

Heres the last tank shots for my buildoff thread


Full tank shot


Some mushrooms




Sexy shrimp


Tube Anenome




Another tank shot




Thats all folks!
-Diana